The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1887-12-30
EARLY CALENDARS.
The CRg AImanae The First Written
md Printed AInaanacs.


The CRg Almanas The FIRST written
and Printed AImanacs.
Not e9erv reader OF these lines knows
why the calendar is so called, nor the
reason or naming one Of the most indis-
peflsa1s nf naoasfE hsssS as0os4s tsze ssIIiasls
nae.
It was customary in old Rome to pro-
claim the first of each month, that the
people might know the dates for the con-
stantly recurring religious festivals. A
notice of the beginning Of each new
month was also affixed in public place,
and the 1st of the month took the
name Kalendae or Kalends, from the
Greek verb meaning to call, while to the
posted notice was applied the name Faste
Calendares. Later q book of accounts re-
ferring to days was called Calendarium, a
calendar, and from this we have derived
our word, applied nowadays not only to a
condensed almanac, or exposition of time
divisions generally, but of late years to
those dainty publications loved so well
by young women wherein each day of the
year is provided with o passage from some
favorite author. An old stone calendar
found at Pompeii is in the form of square
block. upon each of the four sides of
which are registered three months, in per-
pendicular columns, the proper sign of
the Zodiac heading each. Agricultural
and religious information is given as well
as astronomical.
The name almanac was derived from
the SaXons, who, according to quaint
chronicler named Verstegen, FUSED to en-
grave upon certaine squared sticks, about
foot in length, or shorter, or longer, as
TvN1n f6aa nf %I,N, -
the whole yere, whereby they could al
wales certainly tell when the new incomes,
full incomes and changes should happen,
as also their festival daies, and such a
carved stick they called al-mon- -aught,
that is to say, al-mon-heed, to wit, the
regard or observation of all the incomes"
The Clog almanac described by Dr. Robert
Plot and found by him in the northern
countries of Europe in 1886 was probably
modification of the al-mon-aught 1t
was square stick of box or other hard
wood, on which the days and months were
designated by variously shaped notches.
Properly, it was perpetual almanac, de-
signed to show the Sundays and other
fixed holidays of the year only.
The earliest written almanacs were
those of Solomon Jarchus, published in
the Twelfth century. Pebrus de Dacia
published an almanac in the year 1900
and thereafter they became more common
with every year. Astrology was always
exhaustively treated Of in these early al
manacs, and the following is an extract
from an almanac for 1886:
EXPosYcIoN OF THE sYNEs.
Aquarius es a syne in the whilk the son es
in Jany, and in that moneth are z plyos dayes,
the /, 2, d. 5. G. Is, 49, and if thoner is heard in
= that moneth it betokens CRETE wynde, mykel
fruite, and batel. Aquarius is hote moyste, san
guyne, and of that ayre it es code to byg cas-
tells, or hous, or to wed.
The first almanac printed in Europe was
probably the Kalendarium Novum, by
Regiomontanus, calculated for 1475, 1894
and 1913. 1t was published in Ruda,
Hungary Richard Pynson, in 1897,
printed the first English almanac, trans
lating it from the French, and calling it
The Sheapheard's Kalendar.
Almanacs were largely prophetic in
those days, and most readers of this will
remember the patent medicine almanacs
of their younger days, in which would oc-
cur in italic type, stretching half
way down the page and covering
fully u fortnight's time, such predictions
as these: "About this time we
may expect hail, snow Or rain, accom-
panied by variable Winds" or "Look out
for clear calm weather, with rising tenn
perature and possibly violent thunder
storms
In an almanac published in 1864, called
Poor Robin, occurs this remarkable
humorous prognostication for January:
''There will be much frost and cold
weather in Greenland. Possibly Ben
Franklin got suggestion for the title of
his famous "Poor Richards Almanac"
from Poor Robin.